Cryptocurrency Retail Investor Capital Is Not Dead

With major events unfolding in the cryptocurrency space surrounding institutional investors of late, little attention has been given to the retail investor.

Andreessen Horowitz stole the spotlight with its recent debut of a $300 million cryptocurrency fund, but meanwhile, it’s done little to prop up the bitcoin price, which continues to trade in the doldrums. Meanwhile, naysayers have been doubting that retail capital will ever find its way back into this space again.

If you ask Bart Smith, who spearheads digital assets at Susquehanna, a wave of retail capital will serve as the next catalyst to ignite a crypto rally. Smith told CNBC:

“Frankly where you have seen demand is from retail investors in the U.S. Coinbase, Gemini, Circle — all those people are servicing retail investors.”

First-Mover Urgency

Smith recalls the recent SEC decision that the No. 2 cryptocurrency Ethereum should not be classified as a security and therefore won’t be regulated by the Wall Street watchdog. But other coins, he pointed out, don’t have...